Sunday, May 26, 2013

Heady Blooms

Right now the streets of Charleston are wafting with some of the sweetest, intoxicating Southern scents. From the tiniest Confederate Jasmine to the big momma Southern Magnolias, I can't get enough. The gardenia bushes in my back yard have just finally started blooming after tempting their scent with green buds for weeks.

Confederate Jasmine

Like a true Southern woman, this Magnolia is as dramatic as the day is long. Sadly, none of these blooms will do well indoors. Have you ever tried to put a magnolia in a vase? Like they say, you can't cage a wild thing.

Southern Magnolia

In an effort to bring their fragrance indoors, I've rounded up a few fresh floral colognes. When I was knee-deep in wedding planning, I read a cheesy article that sparked the idea to wear a different scent on your wedding day and anniversaries to trigger memories of significant events. For this reason, I bought Trish McEvoy's Gardenia right before my wedding.

This plan is flawed for a couple reasons. Buying a bottle of perfume is pretty expensive when you're only using it once a year. You certainly can't use the same bottle for years because the scent will eventually go bad. I now wear the gardenia scent throughout the year, in hopes this will trigger memories of my youth when I'm a wrinkly old lady. I think (and hope) the scent is fresh enough that don't smell like a little old lady quite yet.